Mötley Crüe had barely recovered from a severe slump in their career when they released their «Nth» Greatest Hits Compilation in 1998. The album
Generation Swine had been loathed by pretty much everyone, and the order was to return to the roots. But while the band strived to come up with new material, the break was signalled with the release of
Mötley Crüe Greatest Hits. This record actually featured two new songs recorded by the original - and pretty much only true – lineup: Vince, Mick, Tommy and Nikki. These songs, although they were a step in the right direction (particularly the entertaining
Bitter Pill ) were still a little distant from the group’s trademark sound, as seen on such albums as
Shout At The Devil or
Dr.Feelgood. Still, they fit sort of well into the irregularity of this compilation.
Bitter Pill starts off promisingly, with a huge rock’n’roll riff and some trademark hard-rock singing from Vince. The bridge may be a tad too «alternative» for most people, but the band make up for that with a classic chorus, which perfectly mixes their old and new sounds. On the overall, an excellent song.
Enslaved is the exact opposite: too poppy and «indie» for its own good, this song runs by our speakers leaving no reaction other than utter apathy from the listener. The Crüe were still not getting their hand completely right…
But apart from these two new songs, this record features 15 other cuts from the different stages of Crüe’s career, with particular incidence on the
Dr.Feelgood album, considered by many as the band’s best. From this, they lift no less than five tracks: the title track, the infamous
Kickstart My Heart, the awesome
Same Ol’ Situation (S.O.S.) , plus
Without You and
Don’t Go Away Mad (Just Go Away). All the other albums, except for 1994’s self.-titled flop, are represented by at least one track. But not all these tracks are well chosen: there are some clear casting errors (what the h*ll is
Afraid doing on this album?!) and some songs which, while entertaining, are by no means Greatest Hits material (such as the puzzling remix for
Glitter). Plus, there’s a song lifted from
another Greatest Hits compilation (
Decade Of Decadence’s
Primal Scream). And, of course, there‘s always the question of why the band did not include the
original Shout At The Devil, rather than the far weaker 1997 remake.
Still, for all its flaws, this is an extremely amusing compilation. The blander moments are fully compensated by the songs we all know and love, creating an entertaining, if somewhat inconsistent, listening experience. For all those looking to get into Crüe, I recommend this. If you like what you hear here, you are bound to like the band’s «real» albums even better. If you don’t like this much, then probably Crüe won’t be the band for you. Either way, by no means should your Crüe collection consist of only this; consider it a mere starting point for your Crüeing experience.
Recommended Tracks
Bitter Pill
Same Ol’ Situation
Smokin’ In The Boys’ Room
Primal Scream
Dr.Feelgood
